


They Haven't Seen the Best of Us Yet

by NormalnessLeadsToSadness (DrowningInStarlight)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Homophobia, Hugs, Hurt!Dan, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Phan Angst, Phan Fluff, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 18:04:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11903241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/NormalnessLeadsToSadness
Summary: Dan and Phil. Howell and Lester. Slightly too close to be just friends, just close enough to be targets.Dan gets beaten up on his way home from school, and Phil has some very strong feelings about it.Title from "This Is Gospel" by Panic! At The Disco.





	They Haven't Seen the Best of Us Yet

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, gals and non-binary pals! This is just a quick hurt/comfort oneshot.

Dan felt like he was going to throw up. The words echoed round and round his head, as he hurried down the dark street, the events of barely half an hour ago playing again and again, as he pulled up his hood against the stinging rain. 

 

Phil had left school earlier than Dan that day. Normally they stuck together, in any way they could, but Dan's history teacher had habit of running overtime, and by the time Dan got free, Phil and most of the other students had already left.  
Dan could feel the eyes watching him as he stopped to zip up his jacket, and he hurried on. They left him alone when Phil was around, Phil was older and bigger, and not at all afraid of punching people who threatened him or Dan, but when he was alone they saw an easy target.  
Add that to the list of reasons why Dan needed Phil. He protected him, and protected them, the pair, slightly too close to be just friends, just close enough to be targets. 

 

Before Dan had taken two steps off school property, he heard a voice.

"Hey! Howell!" 

He ignored it, keeping his head down, staring resolutely at the rain drops beginning to fall from the sky. 

"Are you deaf? I'm talking to you, Howell!" 

Dan felt a hand grab him roughly by the shoulder. He tried to yank free, but the hand was gripping too strongly. He looked up into the face of Malcolm, one of Dan's most feared enemies, and with him were six or seven other kids, all with an expression Dan recognized too well: While he's beating up someone else, he's not beating up me, so I'm going to cheer my loudest. 

"What do you want?" Dan said, trying to sound as neutral as he could. 

"Manners, Howell!" Malcolm sneered, "A gaylord like you should know better than to mouth off to people."

"I'm not gay," Dan muttered, which was technically true. He hadn't found a word to describe his sexuality yet, but he was pretty definite it wasn't gay.

"Oh yeah? Then why do you hang out with Lester all the time, like codependent creeps? I'm not having weirdos like you in my school, Howell. You might contaminate us normal people." He gestured flamboyantly to the crowd watching, earning an appreciative laugh. Say what you like about the kids at Dan's school, they knew how to spot free entertainment, and watching the most violent kid beating up the most peaceful apparently was just that. 

"Let me go," Dan said, trying to remove Malcolm's sweaty hand from his shoulder again. 

"Oh, did you hear that? He wants me to let him go. Do you think we should?"

The crowd roared disapproval, and Malcolm roared louder "Shall we make him sorry for acting like a freak like him belongs among us normal people?"

The chanting and sneering was deafening, Dan tried to shield himself with his arms but it was no good, they punched him and tore at the bag on his back, making him fall to his knees in a protective ball. All he could see was the dark tarmac underneath him, and all he could feel were hands grabbing at his hair and his clothes. 

"Fuck off!" He shouted, his voice cracking, "Leave me alone!" 

He didn't know if he'd actually said it out loud, the screaming I'm his mind was so loud.

_I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to-_

"Police car!" A girl yelled suddenly, and the crowd scattered. Malcolm took one look at Dan, lying bruised and broken on the road, and spat angrily. "That's what people like you deserve." Then he disappeared from Dan's line of sight.

Dan looked up, trying to see the police car, but his vision was too blurry. What he saw instead was a girl, a couple of years younger than him, stood on the edge of the pavement. 

She held out her hand and pulled him up, looking sympathetic and upset and scared all at once, and whispered "I'm sorry. Phil's a cool guy." Then she turned and ran down the street, not once looking back. 

Dan tried to wipe the mud off his clothes, and the tears off his face, but the rain was falling so heavily now it made no difference. He hurt all over, and it was a single thought that made him start off down the street: Phil.

 

Half an hour later, he was standing outside Phil's house. He tried to make himself look slightly tidier, then knocked hard.  
The door opened at once, and Phil's mum stood on the doorway. 

"Dan! Come on in!" She said, then noticed his dishevelled appearance. "Are you okay, dear?"

"I'm okay, Mrs Lester, I wanted to see Phil," He said, wiping water out of his face. "Is he here?" 

"Yes, he's just upstairs. Are you sure you're okay...?"

"Please, I... I just need to speak to Phil," He managed, trying not to start crying. 

"Phil!" Mrs Lester called, not taking her eyes off Dan. "Dan's here!" 

"Come on up!" Came Phil's muffled reply, and Dan ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He met Phil just outside his bedroom door, and pushed through into Phil's bedroom. It was messy, covered in clothes and books, his bed unmade, a video game looping the pause menu in the corner, and felt like safety. It felt like home.

"Dan, what happened?" Phil said, following him in and shutting the door behind him. "Are you all right?" He took a step closer and Dan backed away. 

"Don't touch me," He begged, "Please, if you touch me I will literally be sick."

Phil put both hands up in a gesture of peace. "Hey, it's fine, if you don't want me to touch you I won't, okay? Can you tell me what happened?"

He was using his calming voice, he'd obviously noticed Dan was on the edge of a panic attack. Dan felt so overwhelmed that he could even speak, he just sat down on the floor and put his head in his hands. His sobbing was the only sound in the room apart from the sound of the rain. 

 

"Dan?" Phil said, "I'm just going to sit here, okay?" He sat on the edge of the bed near Dan, and dug around in the pile of clothes for a clean shirt. He eventually found one, and passing it to Dan, said gently "You can wear that, yours is soaking. Do you want me to leave while you get changed, or...?"

"Don't leave," Dan sniffled, looking at Phil pleadingly. 

"Dan, it's okay, whatever you want. I'll stay right here." 

Dan quickly stripped off his wet jacket, but when he took off his shirt Phil took a sudden breath.

"Dan, you're bleeding," He said, standing up. "What happened?" 

"It was... It was people at school," Dan mumbled, shivering. "They called me a gaylord, and... And said we were codependent creeps, and... Oh, Phil..." His words got lost in tears again. 

"I'm going to kill them," Phil said fiercely, "I don't care what they say, I'm going to kill them!" He violently opened a pack of tissues.

"Can I touch you? I'm just going to wipe the blood off." 

Dan nodded, and said "Just... Be gentle?"

"Of course." He dabbed softly at the cuts on Dan's chest, trying not to gasp at how many bruises there were. 

"Are we creeps, Phil?" Dan whispered, so quietly Phil barely heard. 

"No, we're not, I promise. They're just homophobic assholes, don't listen to a word they say. I'm going to kill them, anyway. How dare they touch you, how are they lay a fucking finger on you-" 

"Don't," Dan said, "Don't make yourself a target. Not for me."

"I'm not a target, they're the target," Phil muttered, as Dan pulled a shirt on. "Are you going to tell your parents?" 

"No point," Dan said, "They'd agree with Malcolm. I'm a freak."

"Well, if you're a freak, I'm a freak too," Phil said, "We'll be freaks together."

"You've said freak too much, it sounds weird now." 

"Freek! Freek! It sounds like a bird call," Phil laughed. "And that sounds like a band name: The Freaky Birds."

"Sounds like a rubbish band to me. All those cool, poetic band names... And the Freaky Birds."

They both laughed, and Phil was happier to hear the sound than he would ever admit. When they'd both calmed down, Dan looked down at the floor. 

"Can I have a hug, Philly?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, of course," He replied, pulling Dan close. He hugged him fiercely, as if by holding the smaller boy he could protect him from the cruel world, shelter him in this warm bubble of love. 

 

Dan melted, the terrified tension leaving him, and he found himself crying again, crying with his face pressed against Phil's chest.

"I'm scared," He whispered, "I'm so, so scared..."

"Dan," Phil said, taking him by the shoulders and holding them firmly. "One day, we'll get out of here, I swear, one day we'll leave and never come back, we'll explore the world and bake cakes at three am, we'll do anything and everything we've ever dreamed of, I promise, and we'll do it together, okay? I promise, I promise..." He had tears in his eyes, and anger, anger at how helpless they were, trapped in a world that hurt them for an act as simple as love. 

"I'm looking forward to it," Dan said.

"Me too."

"We'll be okay." 

"We will."

**Author's Note:**

> It'll be okay, one day, it'll be okay. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also please don't judge me too hard for spending all my spare time writing phan fic lol
> 
> -Starlight


End file.
